Settling into life abroad

Hey everyone, my name is Alice, and this semester/quarter I’ve been studying abroad at the University of Manchester in the UK. So far living in the UK has been great! I’ve met tons of people from all around the world, and we’ve had a lot of fun exploring Manchester and other cities around Europe and the UK together.

School has been alright so far, classrooms are about the same size and most professors tend to just lecture off of their PowerPoint slides. Some classes also have a seminar, which is similar to a quiz section but is usually led by the professor and is only held once every two weeks. Since most of the exchange students need to go home before the examination period, we get a special assessment which consists of an essay that makes up 100% of our grade instead of having to sit through an exam like the local students.

The university itself is quite different from UW — instead of having just the school on campus grounds, they kind of placed most of the buildings along just one busy street called Oxford Road. It’s a bit annoying because you’re always in danger of being run over by a car or bus on your way to school but I only live 10-15 minutes away from the business school so it’s not too bad.

Manchester’s city center isn’t very far away from campus, either. It’s about a 20-30 minute walk to Arndale, which is Manchester’s main downtown shopping center. You can find anything you need there, which is very convenient. When I first got here this is where we all went to buy supplies and utensils. There are also a lot of places to eat, bars, clubs, and movie theaters in Manchester’s city center as well to keep us entertained.

If we ever do get bored, though, traveling is always another option. So far I’ve been to Liverpool, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, and Wales. Just a couple of weeks ago Kimi and I went to Italy together for our reading week, which is a week-long break we get in the middle of the semester. We traveled with two other friends, one who was also a business exchange student from Ohio State and another who was a drama major from Tennessee. Our trip around Italy consisted of visits to Venice, Rome, Naples, Pompeii, and Paula. Italy was absolutely gorgeous, and I’m definitely planning on going back someday! Next up are Dublin, Paris, Lincoln, and Madrid. I can’t wait!